Bolt Motor Co. builds a 500cc weapon… The Yamaha RD350 is one of the most iconic sporting motorcycles ever produced. The original air-cooled 350cc two-stroke parallel-twin was produced from 1973-1975, and the RD quickly became […]
Tag: Yamaha RD
Chem Trails: Yamaha RD400 Street Tracker
A Smokin’ Two-Stroke Tracker from DubStyle Designs… There are workshops who turn out a kaleidoscopic range of custom bikes, always experimenting with a style or era or make they haven’t yet explored, often at […]
A-SPEC: Liquid-cooled Yamaha RD400 Café Racer
Armen Spec: Yamaha RD400(LC) from Armen Manougian… One of the bikes that stood out most to us at the 2024 Handbuilt Show was this stunning Yamaha RD400 from our new friend Armen Manougian — a […]
Race Bike, for the Street: Yamaha RD350 Café Racer
“A vintage race bike without fairings…but for the street.” This was the vision Jesse Crane (@crane_moto) had for the 1975 Yamaha RD350 café racer you see here. You might remember Jesse from his ’71 Yamaha […]
For You, Old Fox: Yamaha RD350 Custom
Cus’Tom Motorcycles rebuilds his father’s RD… The Yamaha RD350 was one of the great giant-killers of the two-wheeled world, a two-stroke street machine with a race-bred bloodline. In AMA Class C racing, the RD racers […]
40th Anniversary Edition: 2023 Yamaha RZ350!
What if Yamaha and Bimota teamed up to build a 40th anniversary RZ350? That’s the question San Francisco-based engineer and road racer Julian Farnam asked himself. Of course, that would entail combining the legendary liquid-cooled, […]
Rolling Art: Yamaha RD400 Street Tracker
Gaston Motorcycle Werks builds a two-stroke street tracker… Introduced in 1976, the Yamaha RD400 was the last of Yamaha’s air-cooled two-stroke RD street bikes, a blue-smoking wheelie monster that undercut many of its rivals pricewise […]
The Mutant: 421cc Two-Stroke Skorpion!
Vic Shield’s RZ421-Powered MZ Skorpion! In 1994, former East German motorcycle maker MuZ — aka MZ — introduced the Skorpion, a single-cylinder sport bike with a race-style chassis and 660cc Yamaha engine. This crossbred machine […]
Cheetah Cub: Yamaha RD421LC Restomod / Hybrid
Colin White’s 421cc Cheetah Cub LC… In 1980, Yamaha introduced the RD350LC (Liquid Cooled) as the successor to the air-cooled RD400, along with a 250cc version aimed at the British learners’ market. The “Elsie” quickly […]
Scary Fun: Yamaha RD400 Café Racer
Two-Stroke Smoker from Hawai’i’s Speedychoppy Builds… In 1976, the Yamaha RD400 appeared as the successor to the RD350, which had become a legend in its own time. Instead of simply overboring the 350, Yamaha created […]
